You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 125

Something inside me snapped, tight as piano wire, and pulled hard enough to steal my breath.

The woman shook her head, cigarette clenched between her teeth as she lit it. "Whole thing sounded crazy."

I looked at Veronica who wore my same shock, her eyes wide and white at the edges.

"D—Did she say who it was?" I leaned forward, a tremor running through my voice.

"Nah. Ain't think she even knew what she was sayin'. Then she up and vanished. Stopped talkin' to folks."

What the hell?

It didn't make any sense that the woman would make those claims if she didn't have any suspicions. Something sour coiled in my gut.

"Do you know where she lives? O—Or is there a way I can reach her?"

"Valentina," she murmured as she picked up her cellphone beside her. "She used to come clean for me sometimes. Lemme see if I still got her in here."

She smoked from her stick as she went through her phone.

Her eyebrows hopped. "Yup. Found it." She dialed.

My pulse pounded so loud it seemed to drop through the floorboards. The line rang into nowhere, then the server's flat voice: number not reachable.

"Figures," the woman sighed. "Been twelve years. She prolly changed up."

"Could we get the number anyway?" Veronica jumped in. "We'll keep trying from our end."

"Mm-hmm." The woman read it off, then added what scraps she remembered about Valentina.

We thanked her. On the sidewalk, the air tasted like old sun and stale ash. I walked away with an ache shaped like a hole, praying to anything overhead that my parents hadn't been murdered, and that the truth, whatever it was, hadn't been waiting twelve years just to tear me open.

****†****†

I was banking on Void to help me find Valentina.

Veronica and I had tried calling her twice more and landed straight to voicemail which we made use of. I'd never prayed this strongly for someone to be alive.

Void wasn't home when I arrived. I knew all I had to do was wait and he'd be back, but I was eager to share my findings with him.

I dialed his line but the call wasn't received. Out of sheer curiosity, I was eager to know what he was doing.

So, I dialed 'her.'

Unlike him, she did pick up.

"Hi, Katya."

"Green eyes," her surprise was tucked neatly under cool. "What're you doing with my number?"

"I asked Void for it."

"Hm. And why would you ask for it? That sounds like you're interested in me."

I huffed a laugh and crossed one arm under the other, moving to the window where I stared out the dark sky. "Please."

"Nah, I'm totally cool with it, you know. If I can't fuck the man, I might as well fuck his girlfriend."

He emptied the first in a swallow, refilled without hurry, then leaned against the counter and let one of those heavy stares pin me to the upholstery.

"Come here."

Simple instruction. Complicated biology. My body tripped over itself to obey.

I stood and crossed the room. He was sipping from his glass when he hooked an arm around my waist, hauling me in.

The heat from his body met mine at once. He smelled of everything Void, including the blood of the people he'd shed.

I let my forehead rest against his chest and forced my breath to mimic his. In. Out. Pretend the world was only a sternum and a heartbeat.

His hand slid into my hair, slow strokes that felt indecently gentle. He breathed me in. "Katya said you called."

I went still, the memory of that scream slicing back through the line. "Yeah. Just wanted to know what you were up to."

"You got your answer then?" He lifted the glass to his mouth.

"I guess." I tried to make it sound like nothing. It came out like everything.

He set the emptied glass down. "Come. I need to show you something."

Taking my hand, he pulled me toward the door. I thought something meant the backyard or so. Instead, he led me straight to the car.

"Are we heading out?"

"Yes." He opened the passenger door and guided my shoulder in before I could invent an argument.